TMF Group accepts CVC Capital Partners bid, drops LSE listing plan

By: Helen Burggraf | 27 Oct 2017

The TMF Group, the Netherlands-based business services provider that owns Malta-headquartered TMF International Pensions, said on Friday that it is to be acquired by CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm, for € 1.75bn (US$2bn, £1.55bn).

The acquisition, which is expected to complete in the first half of 2018, puts an end to TMF Group’s plans to list on the London Stock Exchange, the TMF Group said in a statement.

CVC acquires the TMF business from DH Private Equity Partners, which first acquired TMF Group in 2008. The deal is subject to customary regulatory and anti-trust approvals.

The TMF group had announced its plans to list on the London exchange earlier this month, and an IPO valuing the company at between £1bn and £1.3bn had been expected, according to market reports, setting it up to be one of London’s biggest initial public offerings this year, had it gone through.

According to Reuters, TMF Group reported a loss of €37.8m in the first half of 2017, up from a loss of €28.7m during the same period a year earlier.

‘Future growth opportunities’

In its statement announcing the deal, TMF Group said it would enable the company “to capitalise on significant future growth opportunities that exist in its markets, as it scales its global platform [and] adds new clients and services”.

TMF Group currently operates out of 125 offices in 83 jurisdictions around the world, providing compliance and administrative services to more than 15,000 clients.

TMF Group chief executive Frederik van Tuyll, pictured left, said his company had “enjoyed an outstanding relationship with DH Private Equity Partners which, since acquiring TMF, has made a significant contribution to our growth”.

“We look forward to an equally rewarding partnership with CVC, which has a strong track record of helping companies grow.”

Split from Custom House Global

As reported here last year, the TMF International Pensions arm of the TMF Group, which is run by Bethell Codrington, became a wholly-owned TMF Group subsidiary last year, when Custom House Global Fund Services Ltd, a Malta-based, international fund services company, ended a relationship whereby it helped TMF to run the business, as the Malta-regulated corporate trustee.

CVC Capital is based in Luxembourg. It was first established in London in 1981 as Citicorp Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Citigroup, and acquired from Citigroup by its management in 1993, when it became CVC Capital Partners. The TMF acquisition is the first investment made by CVC Fund VII, which raised more than €16bn earlier this year.

DH Private Equity Partners is a London-based private equity house that until earlier this year was known as Doughty Hanson & Co, after founders Nigel Doughty and Richard Hanson.